Surviving our children-and Alaskan politics-one day at a time.

Archive for July 20th, 2009

Before Sarah hijacked this blog, I had a regular feature called CineMonday! which highlighted a movie that I had recently watched. Now that Sarah is moving toward the background of my mind, I’ve decided it’s time to resurrect CineMonday! for the good of my readers (and myself).

Sicko is a must-watch movie for all Americans. It goes deep into the abyss which is the American healthcare system. Moore travels all over the country as well as to France and England to gather stories. The movie is not about the uninsured, but about the millions of Americans who are insured but who either cannot afford their deductibles or are denied services because of financial decisions made by a board of directors.

One story in particular hit home with me- a woman told the story of her 18-month-old daughter who came down with a fever of over 104 degrees. She took her to the hospital and was told that she had to go to a different hospital because her health insurance wouldn’t cover the costs of treatment. The woman begged the hospital staff to help her little girl, but was eventually escorted out of the building because she was “a threat.” By the time the woman got to the other hospital, the baby had died.

Tragedies like this are occurring every day in this country because our health care system is run by private insurance companies. In England and France (and every other western country), universal health care is the norm, and although there are some drawbacks, it is regarded as some of the best care in the world. You walk into a hospital, get treated and walk out without having to pay a dime. In one hospital, Moore interviewed the “cashier,” who gave cash reimbursements to patients for their travel to and from the hospital.

Sicko is very informative and while I know that we must take what Moore has to say with a grain of salt, it was definitely worth watching. I recommend it to everyone, especially right now as we debate what health care in America should look like.